Yesterday’s NY Times carried this very interesting article, “Addicted to Your Phone? There’s Help for That” (“Put Down The Phone” in the print edition) pondering smartphone addiction and attempts to overcome it.

By Matthew Bourel

I don’t have a smartphone (and didn’t realize it was one word until yesterday), and my family think it’s because I’m somehow anti-technology. I’m not, actually. I just prefer to think through whether or not I actually need a certain tool or need to make use of a technology before I get one. And, more importantly, I’d like to think critically about the sorts of dynamics that any technology initiates. There’s much to be said about all of that, but I found this article interesting, especially this paragraph:

But smartphones are a potent delivery mechanism for two fundamental human impulses, according to Paul Atchley, a psychology professor at the University of Kansas: our quest to find new and interesting distractions, and our desire to feel that we have checked off a task.